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Chelmsford may seek mulligan on clubhouse

CHELMSFORD -- Town officials are considering changes to the Chelmsford Country Club clubhouse after an inspection found serious structural issues on the back portion of the building.

But the town-owned club hosts a small number of functions, and the town may decide to demolish that section of the building.

Part of the building's roof has supports that aren't properly spaced for weight loads, meaning the building could actually be shifted slightly in heavy winds, said Gary Persichetti, the town's public works director.

"Because of the fact that the addition itself was done on the heels of the deck, and not really the right way, the roof trusses are not exactly the way they should be," Persichetti told selectmen during a meeting on Oct. 1.

The building was originally a house. It was later converted and expanded to include a function space, kitchen and deck. But the additions apparently weren't done correctly, and an engineer found that a beam had turned, leaving part of the structure less stable, Persichetti said.

A structural review from Methuen-based Daigle Engineers warned of a buckled structural piece called a header, and found that supports for the first-floor bar and dining area were less than half the minimum strength typically required. Floor joists were only 40 percent the required strength, and a center beam even less than that, the report said.

Wood in multiple areas, including underneath where the enclosure for the function hall was built, also had "significant" decay, said Jonathan Longchamp, Daigle's president.

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The function hall "does not appear to have been properly designed or constructed," Longchamp said, recommending that the troublesome portion of the building not be used after this season.

The beam Persichetti referenced was secured with 4-by-4 supports to make safe for now. But in the long term, the town will have to decide whether it's worth repairing the building or better to take down the portion with structural issues. A repair may cost $80,000, Persichetti said, while building a deck in its place may cost another $20,000 to $25,000, he said.

The town is waiting for more specific estimates before deciding a course of action.

Officials are debating whether it's worth repairing the function space, which doesn't bring the town much revenue. The town has a contract with an operator to run the facility and narrowly breaks even on the property, Town Manager Paul Cohen said.

But the function space is a sort of "discount place" for people who want inexpensive parties or meetings, Cohen said, and it may run into increased competition with a new Elks Club building on Littleton Road and two former town halls that recently reopened as community spaces: the Chelmsford Center for the Arts in the town center and the Chelmsford Community Center.

"I don't know if it's a necessary space in the community," Cohen said of the country club's clubhouse.

Kevin Osgood, owner of Newton-based Sterling Golf Management, which has run the course under a contract with the town since 1996, said it was too early in the process to comment.

The town took over the nine-hole club via eminent domain in 1995 as a way to preserve open space at a time when the land could have been turned into a housing development, said Bernie Lynch, the town manager at the time.

"We just felt it was important to have a golf club like that in the community," said Lynch, who became Lowell's city manager in 2006.

A fund was set up last year for the property so that it will rely on its own revenue, and not taxpayer funds, to pay for operations.

At a Board of Selectmen meeting, a discussion briefly included consideration of whether the clubhouse could be expanded into a larger facility. But Cohen said such a plan would likely receive strong resistance from neighbors because the golf course is tightly fit into a quiet residential neighborhood.

Sterling Golf Management, which has a contract with the town through 2013, has operated the course since the town first sought bids for a contract. The only issue to surface during that time occurred in 2006, when complaints were lodged against the condition of the course, including that the grass had turned brown during the summer heat, that equipment didn't work properly and that there wasn't enough on-site management or grounds crew.

The town's acting town manager at the time said the course was in "terrible shape." But officials at the time said the club was not being mismanaged, and a review the following spring found the course to be in much better condition.

Under its contract with Chelmsford, Sterling pays at least $30,000 a year to the town but the total depends on revenue. Sterling must pay the town 10 percent of the first $300,000 in gross receipts and 25 percent of gross receipts above that amount.

Under a separate contract, Sterling pays $600 per month to rent the club's function hall.

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